Apple cofounder Ronald Wayne—whose stake would be worth up to $400 billion had he not sold it in 1976—says that at 91, he has no regrets |
Apple cofounder Ronald Wayne—whose stake would be worth up to $400 billion had he not sold it in 1976—says that at 91, he has no regrets
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak are the names most closely tied to Apple, one of the most valuable companies in history. But 50 years ago, when they were putting pen to paper and officially founding the company, there was a third, lesser-known signature on that document: Ronald G. Wayne.
At the time, Wayne was an engineer at Atari when Jobs recruited him to help persuade Wozniak to take the leap and build a computer company. Wayne—who later described himself as the “adult in the room”—drafted Apple’s original partnership agreement and was awarded a 10% stake, while Jobs and Wozniak each held 45%.
Just 12 days later, he walked away.
Concerned about the financial risk tied to the partnership, Wayne sold his stake back for $800 and later received an additional $1,500 to formally forfeit any future claim to the company. Today, with Apple’s market cap hovering around $4 trillion, that 10% stake could theoretically be worth more than $400........